Apparatus for the production of mechanical wood-pulp.



G. G. HOWARD.

( APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MECHANICAL WOOD PULP.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.15, 1911.

1,039,286. Patented Sept. 24, 1912.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR I GUY C/J'IQWARO r A mw 6W 1 NITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

our 0. HOWARD, 0F EVERETT, WASHINGTON.

APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MECHANICAL WOOD-PULP.

. new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for-the Production of Mechanical VVoodgulp, of which the following is a specification. 4

This invention relates to apparatus for grinding fibrous vegetable material for paper pulp and particularly to improvements'in the method described in my prior Patent No. 997,064, dated July 4, 1911.

The grinding or disintegration of the ;fibrous'veg'etable material into its individual fibers suitable for use in paper manufacture as described in said patent is effected in tube state for economical maceration.

mills in which the material is charged in one end, exposed to the grinding action of suit-- able sized balls or pebbles and discharged from the other end in a partially or wholly disintegrated condition.

It is found when working on certain fibrous vegetable materials that more water is necessary to be added to keep the fiuidic consistency of the contents at the proper Addition of water to the pulp material during reduction may be required through loss of avail.- able water by absorption, increase in bulk and space occupied by the material through disintegration, and the swelling of the fibers through the absorption of water.

Assuming that the material is fed to the mill in approximately the proper proportions of fiber and water for efficient grinding, the progress of the material through the length of the mill with the increasingly diminishing size of the fiber-bundles requires that water be added at predetermined inter vals in its course to maintain what has been found as the proper state of dilution for the best reducing action.

The invention consists in the adaptation and combination with a tube mill of novel devices for introducing water therein, as will be hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and finally forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view partly" Referring to said drawings, the reference Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 24, 1912,

Application filed November 15, 1911. Serial No. 660,423.

numeral 1 designates a tube mill adapted to contain a quantity of balls or pebbles of suitable size for the disintegration of fibrous vegetable material continuously fed thereinto. Said mill may be supported upon rollers 2 and rotated at desired speed through power applied in any suitable manner. At one end of said mill it is provided with an axiallyiarranged charging tube 3 whose outer end communicates with a hopper 4 into which a mixture of water and pulp material. to be ground is received as from a con- .veyer pipe 5. At the opposite end of the mill it. is formed with a discharge opening (5 which allows a portion of the contained fiber material to exude from the mill at each revolution. The material thus issuing is caught by the receptacle 7 and conveyed where desired.

The introduction and discharge of material is a continuing operation and the material thus progressively travels from one end to the other of the mill during its maceration and disintegration. For reasons previously explained, it may be desirable to increase the amount of water at intervals within the mill as the pulp is reduced in its passage therethrough. One or more devices for introducing water may be provided for each mill, and may severally consist in a pipe 8 connected at its end 9 with a flanged nipple 10 having communication with the mill interior and bent or coiled circumfcren tially about the mill, a plurality of brackets 11 fixedly secured to the mill exterior being utilized to maintain the pipe in generally leading into a valve casing indicated at 15,.

and provided with a pipe 16 discharging into said trough. A float 17 impinging upon a lever arm 18 connected to said valve regu- -1ates the admission of water by its rise or fall according to the height of water in the trough.

In operation, the mill is rotated in the direction indicated by the longer arrow in F ig. 2. In each revolution the open end 12 of the pipe 8 enters the water in the trough 113 and scoops up a portion of said water. As the rotation of the mill continues this WtICQY lS progressively conducted along the length of the pipe by gravitating downwardly in a contrary direction to such rotation until the inlet 9 is reached Where upon the continued rotation causes the Water to. flow into the interior of the mill.

another scoop of Water to be engulfed Withinv the pipe 8 and the same operations are re .peated. and continued as desired by the operator. The amount of Water received each revolution by said pipe is regulated Within limits by the depth of Water in the trough 13 and the latter may be maintained automaticallv ata desired height by adjustment of said valve-and float.

As stated, one or more of the described or equivalent devices. may be provided-for each mill at spaced intervals along its length.

. In the reduction of various varieties of Wood to pulp more or less Water may be required and this may .be'readily accomplished'bythe foregoing means, through the, utilization of all such devices to-the degree desired or cutting," out /one or more such devices.

their entirety by the prevention of flow of Water into: the-respective trough-J.

. Thedeviccs are. simple and. accessible, do, -not obstruct any way the interior of the In the meantime the rotation of the mill has caused mill and are very Well adapted for'thefpun poses intended.

hat I claim, is

1, In a mill for reducing wood pulp Ina-- terial, the combination with a revolving cylinder having an intake for material and. a

said discharge.

40 discharge, of a supplementary inlet or inhats for Water intermediate said intake and 2. A mill for thereduction ef'wo-ed pulp,

consisting of a. revolving cylinder,v provided with intake and discharge devices for mazterial and Water, means within said drumfor mechanically macerating said material,

and means for intermittently introducing additional Water Within the cylinder intermediate. said intake and said discharge...

3. A mill for the reduction of Wood-pulp consisting of a revolving cylinder provided with intake devices for pulp material and water at. one end, and discharge devices therefor at its. other end, means within said.

mill for macerat-inig. said material, a beripherally aI-framgedpipe about said cylinder having an open end and an. end opening into said cylinder, and a receptacle for" 

